Broken Hinges

The last few days Jeanne still didn’t feel well and we stayed close to the coach.  Our most important outing was a trip to Walmart for food and Borders to update the computers.  Bottom line; we really didn’t do very much.

The weather turned cool and the wind steadily blew for the last two days.  The wind made it feel colder than it really was and spending a lot of time outside was not an option.  It finally sunk in that we moved north sooner than we should have, but we’re paid up here for two more weeks so we’ll tough it out.

I tried to find a local Geocache.  The location was right, but it was hidden in an area that was landscaped with the kind of round rocks you would find in a riverbed.  After turning over rocks for 30 minutes, I gave up.  I’ll try another location later in the week.

The inside of the coach has several overhead storage compartments.  The doors to some of these are hinged with a clever spring loaded device that keeps the door up and out of the way when opened.  The hinges on one of these compartments (the one with all the snack foods I’m sorry to say) broke when a  pop-rivet at a pivot point wore out.  We drew a blank trying to find the hinges locally so we called Monaco for replacements.  It was hard describing the hinges over the phone and I ended up e-mailing pictures.  We should receive replacements in a few days; hopefully the new hinges will include a feature to keep the snack compartment locked!

When we first arrived the nightly lows were in the 20s and we were afraid the hose would freeze if we hooked up to city water.  The solution was to fill the fresh water tank and use the pump, which is really a hassle since you have to switch the pump on and off every time you use water.  Considering that much of the world doesn’t even have running water, this is not a big thing.  But it is an annoyance.  Eventually the weather warmed and we hooked up to city water.

The point of the water story is living in the coach has given us an appreciation of the convenience of city utilities.  Turn the knob and the stove lights, push the handle and the toilet flushes, flip the switch and the lights come on.  Don’t think about how much gas, water and electricity you use, just pay the bill at the end of the month.  Living in the coach has made us keenly aware of these basic utilities.  In fact, I can probably tell you how much water, propane and electricity we use on a monthly basis.  After 52 years of living in a post-industrial economy and taking these things for granted, it is a wake-up call.  Think about it next time you shower with unlimited hot water and don’t have to worry about dumping the gray water tank.

Hopefully, Jeanne will be feeling better soon and I’ll have something more interesting to write about.